Thermoregulatory Issues for Paralympic Athletes

Abstract

Individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI) are thermoregulatory impaired, due to their reduced heat loss capacity, as a result of a loss in sweating capacity and vasomotor control below their lesion level. Previous research has neglected to undertake studies that reflect real-world sporting scenarios for this population group, affecting the translation of these findings into meaningful performance enhancements. Thus, our work aimed to investigate the thermoregulatory responses of athletes with a SCI during real-world sporting scenarios, with particular focus on athletes with tetraplegia. Our work has shown that in indoor playing environments, representing wheelchair court sports, athletes with tetraplegia are under greater thermal strain than athletes with paraplegia and athletes with non-spinal related physical impairments. To reduce thermal strain in able-bodied athletes, cooling strategies have been shown to be effective, but research in this area is limited for athletes with a SCI. Our work demonstrates that a combination of current cooling strategies (pre-cooling using an ice vest and water sprays between quarters) used in wheelchair rugby were found to be effective at reducing thermal strain compared to no cooling or pre-cooling alone. Although neither cooling strategy improved performance. Recommendations for the use of cooling strategies for athletes with an SCI are to take an individualised approach and use in align with the practicalities and regulations of the sport.